My 12th Year as a Licensed Social Worker

As I was renewing my Social Work license this month, it occured to me that many of you might not understand exactly what I do each day. I am a licensed social worker with the State of Idaho. I have degrees in social work and gerontology (the study of aging).

I work for a non-profit agency. I am the client services director. I work with our most vulnerable, fail, elderly poplulation in the Treasure Valley. I am committed to maximizing the independence and autonomy of seniors. I strive to offer the highest quality and most cost-effective health and human services.. Through education, advocacy, counseling, and service delivery, I help older persons and their families to cope with the challenges of aging.

Here are a few stories about my favorite clients:

Gerdie and has been a client for the past year. I became involved with her through an anonymous referent who said there was a "little old lady on his street who desperately needed some help."

When I went to follow up on the referral I found a woman who's husband had died the week before and who was completely distraught. Apparently her husband had coddled her all her adult life... he had done all the cooking, cleaning, banking, bill paying, driving, etc. When he died, she didn't know how to function without him. She didn't even know what bank they banked at! She completely shut down and was unable to make a decision on her own. It was a crisis situation.

I became Gerdie's guardian... allowing me to help her legally make decisions. What I found when I sorted the mess all out, was a lady who's husband had a secretive side who took advantage of a wife who was caring and trusting. He had amassed over $60,000 in credit card debt under Gerdie's name. She had no idea since he’d always taken care of the bills.

To make a long story short, I worked with various credit card companies as well as collection bureaus to absolve the debt. I had to sell Gerdie's home in order to have money to pay for the daily things she needs.

On top of all her other hardships, Gerdie’s health had gone down hill too. During her routine mammogram last year, they found 2 large lumps. Within a matter of one week, Gerdie had both breasts removed and was told she didn’t have long to live. At 90 years old, that’s not an easy surgery to endure or an easy diagnosis to hear. Gerdie also started suffering from extreme panic attacks. She would start shaking uncontrollably and scratching at her face. It’s a horrible thing to watch someone go through.

Gerdie died in February, while myself, Bryant and Suzi (my sister) were by her side. She didn’t have any family members. However, we were there with her in the end… Advocating on her behalf and making sure her end of life choices were honored.

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Ada is one of the feistiest little ladies you’ll ever lay eyes on. She is fiercely independent and mentally sharp as a tack… even at 94! She practices her multiplication tables and long division every day. Ada feels that people need to exercise their body and minds every day or else they’ll begin to lose it. She is easy to talk with and likes to tell about her early life growing up. She had a rough life and worked hard and is used to doing without. This may account for Ada’s independence and determination to stay in her own home as long as possible.

I became involved with Ada when an Electric Company worker called us because he was concerned about Ada’s welfare. When I visited Ada the first time I found her socially isolated and vulnerable. She had been taken advantage of by several people including a repair man, a neighbor and a cab driver. She was also extremely depressed. She was constantly worried that she might die and nobody would care or even know. Ada has one grown child, however she is not very involved with her. She says her daughter is more of a hindrance than a help...not someone she can really rely on.

I also noticed Ada’s house was dilapidated and cluttered with garbage. After some investigation on my part, I learned that part of the problem was Ada couldn’t drag her garbage can to the curb so she had no choice but to let the garbage pile up. Ada couldn’t bring herself to ask for help because she was very embarrassed by the condition of her home and by her sincere desire to remain independent. This led to even more depression for Ada.

Ada says she learned to live on very little during WWII… so she’s now able to “get by on what little she has.” But she feels with the “little she has” and the “lots of help she has from myself and the agency I work for” she can live a life of dignity and worth. She feels we have made life a little easier for her and we’ve helped her maintain her pride while aging at home.


To be a Social Worker, you must be courteous, diplomatic, caring, shrewd, persuasive, assertive, creative, adaptable, a Sherlock Holmes, a motivator, up-to-date, have a good memory, acute business judgment, emotional stability, and be the embodiment of virtue… but with a good working knowledge of sin and evil in all its forms.

A Social Worker must understand insurance, electricity, chemistry, physiology, mechanics, architecture, physics, bookkeeping, banking, merchandising, selling, shipping, contracting, claims adjusting, law, medicine, real estate, and human nature.

A Social Worker must be a coordinator, clinician, coach, therapist, educator, consumer advocate, administrator, mind reader, hypnotist and an athlete. You must be acquainted with machinery of all types and materials of all kinds and must know the current price of everything from a shoestring to a skyscraper, an aspirin to an amputation.

Social Workers must know all, see all, tell nothing and be everywhere at the same time!